1. Lessons from Y2K for Strategic Management of IT
Mark P. Haselkorn
Professor and Founding Chair
Department of Technical Communication
University of Washington
Prepared for
World Congress of the International Society for the Systems Sciences
Toronto, Canada
July 21, 2000

2. “Managing Vulnerabilities Arising from Global Infrastructure Interdependencies: Learning from Y2K”
A National Research Council Project
Conducted for the Department of Defense
With the support of IEEE and
the University of Washington
Final Report anticipated October 2000

3. Overview How Y2K changed How the problem changed Initial Observations
Managing IT Complexity
Aligning IT with the Organization
Minimizing Risk
Future Issues

4. How Y2K Changed Software to Chips Fix to Continuity
Technology to Mission
Technology to Political and Legal

5. How the Problem Changed
From a study of fundamental flaws and cascading effects to a test of the overall strategic management of information and communication technology.
For example,
maintenance and modernization
life cycle management of systems and software
functional interdependency and continuity guidance policies and certification
system ownership and responsibility
training and organizational roles
security and information assurance

6. Observations Managing IT Complexity
Difficulty from pervasiveness of IT
Difficulty from dynamic nature of IT
Difficulty addressing system of systems
Difficulty in stratifying specific responses

7. Observations Aligning IT with the Organization
Unclear ownership, responsibility, and guidance
Special groups and cross-functional matrixing
Return to business as usual
Central standards and guidance versus local flexibility and execution
Higher levels of oversight and certification
Version control/configuration management issues
Funding issues
Training and job position issues

8. Observations Minimizing Risk
Things fail all the time
Lower tolerance for risk
Considerable redundancy
Growing reliance
Unclear role of ORM
Importance of continuity plans
Aligning security and information flow needs

9. Future Issues Clearer understanding of why Y2K was different
Appropriateness of response
Clarifying system robustness
Hidden impacts
Applications to information assurance and security
Recommendations for improving strategic management of IT